Postmarked, stamped with a seal and sent via the U.S. postal service. This is the new procedure for all college transcripts sent to EC because hand-delivered transcripts will no longer be accepted.
From now on, the Admissions Office will only accept transcripts that have been delivered directly from another college, Bill Mulrooney, director of admissions and records, said.
He said that this change in the procedure is necessary for the college to verify that transcripts are legitimate.
“I know it might be a little inconvenient for students to now have it sent from college to college,” Mulrooney said. “But at the same time, everybody knows that the degrees and certificates that are going to be awarded here will be worth something.”
The change in procedure came after nine students, including football team members, were caught by an EC counselor submitting false transcripts for courses supposedly taken at L.A. Trade Tech. So far, it is unclear whether the students involved have lost eligibility for football here or at other institutions.
“We are going to be a bit proactive in doing this, ” Mulrooney said.
“You can be sure that it is a valid transcript; and rather than a student saying, ‘I gave it to the counselor,’ or ‘I gave it to somebody in admissions,’ it’s mailed directly to us,” Esperanza Nieto, assistant director of admissions and records, said.
The new procedure was decided on after Mulrooney had a discussion with colleagues from other colleges, he said.
“It’s going to be really hard to pull off a fake transcript here.”
Although EC does not accept hand-delivered transcripts, students transferring out of EC will not be affected by the change in the procedure, as long as the college a student is transferring to will accept hand-delivered transcripts, Nieto said.
Nieto said that the policy for transcripts coming from EC has not changed, and students may hand-deliver transcripts to other colleges. However, she said that a student should make sure the college he’s transferring to accepts hand-delivered transcripts.
“More and more colleges are saying they are not accepting hand-carried transcripts,” she said.
Joel Brown, 20, music major, said he is transferring to Columbia Union University in Takoma Park, MD. in the winter. He said he had no problem mailing his transcript to the college.
“Do it in advance to make sure it gets through,” he said.
Nieto said it is not a good idea to wait until the last minute.
“That is the biggest problem: When people wait until the last minute and then say ‘I need it now,'” she said. “Plan ahead. You know you’re transferring. Request it (transcripts) with plenty of time.”
In the future, the college will receive and send transcripts via the internet, Nieto said.
“It’s going to make it more convenient for the student; it’s going to provide more security and make it more convenient for the colleges,” Mulrooney said. “It will also probably reduce time because you won’t have the U.S. mail service involved.”
